| Tools | Language(s) | Cost | Devices | Documentation | Developer Support | App Delivery Mechanism | Carriers | Target Audience |
|---|
| Android | • Android SDK
• Android Development Tools (ADT) plugin on Eclipse 3.4 and 3.5 | • Java for native apps
• Android Native Development Kit (NDK) for apps requiring C/C++ libraries | Free, open source; no upfront fees | Smartphones and PDAs from many different manufacturers, including HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung | SDK provides extensive developer documentation | Complete documentation online (with videos, official Android developer blog and an active Android development community) | • Google Android Market
• Third-party app markets and publication channels | • All major U.S. wireless carriers
• Most major global carriers | Consumers for personal use |
|---|
| BlackBerry | • BlackBerry Java Development Environment (JDE)
• BlackBerry Java Plugin on Eclipse 3.5
• BlackBerry Theme Studio; BlackBerry device simulators | • Java ME + rich set of custom APIs
• Widgets and Web apps (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) | • Free access to SDK and simulators
• $20 to sign an app
• $200 account fee for every 10 apps on BlackBerry App World
• BlackBerry Alliance Program for ISVs ranging from $2000 to $5000 | BlackBerry smartphones in a variety of models | • Javadocs
• BlackBerry Knowledge Base | • RIM community developer forums
• Support for registered RIM ISVs | • Cable-loaded
• Browser
• Java Application Descriptor (JAD) files
• .COD files
• Content aggregators
• BlackBerry App World
• Branded carrier app stores | • All major U.S. wireless carriers
• Most major global carriers | Primarily business users |
|---|
| iPhone | • iPhone SDK
• Ansca Corona
• Appcelerator Titanium Mobile
• Nitobi PhoneGap
• Rhomobile Rhodes
• iUI
• DragonFireSDK
• Unity | • Objective-C
• HTML, CSS and JavaScript | • $99 per year for Apple iPhone Developer Program
• Most developer tools are free, open source, others vary from $99 to $400 per year | • iPhone 3G
• iPhone 4 | Apple Developer Program, which is free to join and includes access to the iPhone SDK, iPhone Reference Library and documentation | • Apple Developer Community
• Code-level technical support from Apple for iPhone Developer Program members | • Safari web browser
• Apple’s App Store
• iTunes | • US: AT&T
• UK: O2, Orange, Vodafone and T-Mobile
• Germany and Netherlands: T-Mobile
• Canada: Rogers, Telus and Bell Mobility | • Primarily early adopters, young adults
• Enterprise users have been reluctant to jump on board. |
|---|
| Windows Mobile 6.5 | Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition or better, but not Visual Studio 2010 | Native C++ or supported .NET languages C# or Visual Basic .NET | • Free SDK
• Visual Studio 2008 Professional – $1200
• Application marketplace subscription – $99/year | Smartphones and PDAs from many different manufacturers, including HTC, LG and Samsung | • Microsoft Developer Network and related sites
• Large amount of community content | • Microsoft Professional support
• Free community support | • Through a memory card, network or an ActiveSync connection
• Microsoft Windows Marketplace for Mobile | • All major U.S. wireless carriers
• Most major global carriers | Business and average consumers |
|---|
| Windows Phone 7 | • Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone
• Expression Blend 4 for Windows Phone | • .NET; C# only
• Silverlight
• XNA | • Prices not finalized yet
• Free SDK, most probably free development tool
• Windows Marketplace for Mobile developer subscription – $99/year | No availability until Q4 2010 | Electronic on MSDN and on the SDK | • Microsoft developer support
• Broad community support | Via Windows Marketplace for Mobile | • All major U.S. wireless carriers
• Most major global carriers | Business and average consumers |
|---|
| Palm WebOS | • Palm webOS SDK
• The Mojo framework
• Palm Developer Tools (PDT) | Applications typically written in JavaScript, HTML, AJAX, and other common Web technologies, as well as in C and C++ | For a limited time (as of 7/22/2010), HP waiving $99 annual fee for developer account | • Palm Pre, Palm Pixi, Palm Plus
• HP has promised to leverage webOS platform on multiple products, including smartphones, HP slate tablets, and printers. | Plenty of documentation at developer.palm.com | Plenty of support and information at developer.palm.com | The Palm App Store | • All major U.S. wireless carriers
• Most major global carriers | Business and consumer users |
|---|
| Symbian | • Application development kit (ADT)
• An application software development kit (SDK)
• Nokia Qt SDK | • Native language is C++
• Other languages include: Python, Java ME, Flash Lite, Ruby, .NET, Web Runtime, Widgets, VisualBasic and Standard C/C. | A few hundred dollars | • Nearly all devices using Symbian are Nokia phones.
• A few Sony Ericsson phones and one from Arima. | SDKs contain documentation, the header files and library files required to build Symbian OS software, and a Windows-based emulator (“WINS”) | Good support through the Symbian Foundation | Nokia’s apps store, Ovi Store | • All major U.S. wireless carriers
• Most major global carriers | Business and consumer users |
|---|
| Tools | Features | Max Size of DB | Languages Supported | Connection Protocols | Footprint | Operating Systems Supported | Synchronization/Integration with Backend | Deployment Options | Security | Documentation/Developer Support | Cost |
|---|
| SQL Server Compact | • Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio
• Microsoft Visual Studio | • Can be deployed on smart devices and computers
• SQL Server Compact Edition Tools for Visual Studio 2005 SP1
• SQL Server Compact Edition Developer SDK
• SQL Server Compact Edition Server Tools
• |DataDirectory| substitution string support | 4G | T-SQL | • ADO.NET
• ODBC
• OLE DB
• LINQ | • <2MB disk space
• 5MB memory | • Windows Embedded
• Windows Mobile
• Windows Desktop
• Windows Server | • Remote Data Access (RDA)
• Merge replication
• Requires a Client Access License (CAL) to the host SQL Server | • ClickOnce
• Microsoft Installer Package (MSI)
• Xcopy | • Data transfer – 128-bit data encryption
• Authentication and authorization for RDA handled by Internet Information Services (IIS)
• Encryption via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
• DB file secured using RSA 128-bit data file encryption and can be password protected | • Microsoft Support
• Books Online
• Blogs
• Videos
• Community Forums
• Newsgroups | Free |
|---|
| Oracle Database Lite | • Mobile database offering consists of Database Lite Client and middle tier, Oracle Database Lite Mobile Server
• User interface into Mobile Server is Mobile Manager
• Mobile Database Workench (MDW)
• Mobile Development Kit (MDK)
• Packaging Wizard | • Synchronization support for SQLite databases
• Windows Mobile 5 and 6/CE Standard SDK 5.0 support
• Android and Blackberry device support
• JDK 1.5 compatibility
• C++/.Net stored procedures support
• Troubleshooting with Mobile Server Repository Diagnostic Tool (MSRDT)
• Oracle RAC support | • 4GB of relational data
• 16TB of BLOB data | • SQL-92
• Java
• C++
• .NET stored procedures and triggers | • ODBC
• JDBC
• ADO.NET | Starting around 1MB | • Windows (2003, XP, Vista)
• Windows Mobile (5, 6)
• Linux (RedHat)
• Linux Embedded
• Symbian (7, 8, 9)
• Mobile Server is deployable on Windows, Linux, Sun SPARC, HP-UX and IBM AIX | • Mobile Server provides bi-directional data synchronization to an enterprise instance of an Oracle database.
• Asynchronous and synchronous incremental data synchronization between thousands of mobile users and the Oracle Database recovers from network failures during synchronization
• File-based synchronization in absense of network connectivity
• Synchronization support has been extended to include SQLite databases with version 10.3 of Database Lite | • Packaging Wizard
• Mobile Server
• Mobile Server integration with the WebLogic Server 11g and Oracle Application Server (OAS) | • FIPS-140 compliance
• SSL
• 128-bit AES encryption | • Code samples, and tutorials provided with MDK
• Documentation, support and community forums | • $60 per user
• Mobile Server – $23,000 per processor |
|---|
| DB2 Everyplace (Enterprise Edition) | • Mobile Devices Administration Center
• XML Scripting Tool | • Optimized for SAP
• Transaction support
• Failure recovery
• Allows for indexing for performance tuning
• Stored procedures only supported as remote calls via the Remote Query and Stored Procedure Adapter | See DB2 Everyplace limits for a list of DB2 limits | • C/C++
• Java
• .NET
• VB
• Subset of standard SQL | • DB2 Call Level Interface (CLI)
• ODBC
• JDBC
• ADO.NET | 350KB | • Windows (2000, 2003, XP, Vista, CE)
• Linux
• Linux Embedded
• Symbian
• QNX
• Palm OS | • DB2 Everyplace Sync Server
• DB2 Everyplace Sync Client:
– secure, bi-directional synchronizing
– Runs on Windows (32-bit), Linux (32-bit), Solaris (64-bit), and AIX (64-bit)
• servlet is provided for simple, low-volume scenarios | WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment | • Local data encryption provided by plugins based on individual platforms
• DSYEncrypt utility encrypts passwords | • SDK, including tutorials and code samples
• IBM website – documentaton, support, community forums | $166 per user; includes license, software subscription and 12 months of support |
|---|
| DB2 Everyplace (Database Edition) | • Mobile Devices Administration Center
• XML Scripting Tool | | See DB2 Everyplace limits for a list of DB2 limits | • C/C++
• Java
• .NET
• VB
• Subset of standard SQL | | 350KB | • Windows (2000, 2003, XP, Vista, CE)
• Linux
• Linux Embedded
• Symbian
• QNX
• Palm OS | Local data storage | | • Local data encryption provided by plugins based on individual platforms
• DSYEncrypt utility encrypts passwords | • SDK, including tutorials and code samples
• IBM website – documentaton, support, community forums | $72.50 per user |
|---|
| SQL Anywhere | • Visual Studio
• Eclipse
• PowerBuilder | • 20,000 transactions per minute
• Veritas Cluster Server (VCS) agent
• UltraLiteJ for use on BlackBerry devices and with J2SE
• v.12: Support for spatial data, language extensions, performance improvements, support for iPhone, and more | Hundreds of GB of data | • C#
• VB.NET
• C/C++
• ASP
• XML
• Java
• Special drivers for PERL and PHP | • ODBC
• JDBC
• ADO.NET
• OLE DB
• Open Client | • 10MB hard disk
• 4MB of memory
• UltraLite version: 75KB | • Windows
• Windows Mobile
• Linux
• Linux Embedded
• Mac OSX on Intel
• Sun SolarisIBM AIX
• HP-UX
• MobiLink: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Sun Solaris, IBM AIX, HP-UX | Bi-directional replication is accomplished using MobiLink | Deployment Wizard | Optional purchases: RSA and ECC encryption protocols | • Documentation
• Community forums
• Webcasts | Dependent on what you need to do with it, who will be using it, how many will be using it, and what platform you are targeting |
|---|
| SQL Lite | • TCL (Tool Command Language)
• C/C++ interface to SQLite
• Management Tools
• Converter Tools
• SQLite Wrappers
• SQLite Reporting | • Zero-Configuration
• Serverless
• Single Database File
• Stable Cross-Platform Database file | 1 terabyte | SQL-92 | N/A | <275K | Cross-platform, 32-bit and 64-bit systems | N/A | | Support for reading and writing encrypted databases using these algorithms: RC4, AES-128 in OFB mode, AES-128 in CCM mode, and AES-256 in OFB mode | • Documentation
• Wiki
• Sample code
• Upgrade guidance
• API references | Public domain |
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